Sunday, 14 February 2016

Golders Green

Geoff and I set off on Sunday morning to explore a suburb area just
to the North of us – Golders Green. Sundays in London aren’t known for
being terribly lively, as most businesses don’t open until midday.
However, Golders Green is an area that is quite densely populated with
Kosher eateries and shops, so the place was quite busy, even before
11am.

We had read the Time
Out guide and had a plan. First stop was to stock up on provisions for
lunch, and the (long and arduous) walk home. We hit up Carmelli Bakery
(the first Time Out recommendation) and bought biscuits, which are sold
by weight, and bagels heavy with smoked salmon and cream cheese. There
were some delicious looking salads, but not particularly portable, so we
stuck to the sandwiches. There were a number of kosher bakeries and
delis, and most impressively a kosher Korean BBQ restaurant!

While
on the high street, we wandered into a fabric shop – an unbelievable
mix of glitter eyelash yarn, African wax print fabrics and the most
vibrant display of embellished ribbon. I will need to make a trip back
here!

We walked over to the
secondary high street, past a fairly impressive Catholic Church, St
Edwards the Confessor and sat down to an unfortunately mediocre coffee
at Piacare (a Time Out recommendation).

Our
walk home, through the West Heath, started in Golders Hill Park, which
is also home to a funny little zoo (yet another Time Out
recommendation). We saw kookaburras, a giant owl, birds that looked
like small emus, donkeys and deer. Also in the ‘zoo’ were some giant
dinosaur sculptures. The park smelled like Spring, and certainly looked
it with daffodils blooming all over. We ate our bagels, obeying the
signs not to feed the animals. In summer I think this part of the Heath
would be very busy, as there is a great childrens play area there as
well.